SL: Birthday special! Here's the new story that Raven was looking at (without permission) :D

Raven: D: Wait, whose birthday? *gets ignored*

Aisha: Oooooh. Is it about me? Am I in there? LET ME SEE. LET ME SEE.

SL: Ahem... Yeah, you're in here.

Aisha: YESH. YESH YESH YESH. XD

Raven: Whose birthday?

SL: And... the main character of this story will be...

Elsword: *mock drum-roll*

SL: AISHA!

Raven: .-.

Aisha: WAIT. WHAT? REALLY?!

SL: Mhmm.

Aisha: OH MAI GOD *tears coming to her eyes* YAY.

Elsword: I'd like to know why, SL. Now she's going to be talking about this for weeks.

SL: Well... *goes into the story of her life* I was reading this book, and I was thinking. "Hey, it'd be cool if Aisha was like that character" and so this story idea came to me the day before my science final. And guess who was writing instead of studying?~

Elsword: You.

SL: Yeah, so Aisha shall star in this~ It's in 1st point of view (which I normally don't write in since the repetitive use of "I" and "my" bothers me) and it's written in past tense. Woo.

Aisha: Start the friggin storyyyyyy

SL: Alright, here we go~ And Aisha, I'm sorry before-hand.

Aisha: Wait, for what?! OAO (vaguely remembers Raven being sympathetic in another story)

SL: Eh... Start the story~ (first chapter is short)

Grace Born On April Fools

Chapter 1: Recollection

I knew from the start that my life would be miserable. It was as if the Lady of El was sending me a message, having me born on April 1st, better known as April Fool's Day. Perhaps my whole life was a joke. On me.

Oh, right. I didn't introduce myself. The name's Aisha. I'm roughly sixteen years old, but hey, you lose count of how old you are when you're living out on the streets. Why the streets, you may ask? Simple: I have no future, no life, nothing ahead of me.

You see, most people – and I'm saying most people – have a family. At least a mother or father, or if the situation isn't as good, a relative. Worst comes to worst? That person would have some sort of legal guardian, right? Well count yourself lucky. I have none. Zero. Zip.

Ever since I was two, I've been living without a father. He died in a fire when the school headmaster in our town "accidentally" lost his control on magic. It was April 1st that day.

The day I turned seven, my mother was called in to the school to discuss my "learning problems" with the headmaster, the same guy who caused my father's death. Only ten minutes after my mother entered the school, people witnessed her jumping out the third-story window and plunging to her death. The town officials identified the cause as "stress from grief" and closed the case. The problem was, they weren't there when she walked out of the headmaster's office. They weren't there to see the dark, purple aura that infested her body before she fell. They weren't there to see the satisfied smirk the headmaster had on his face. I really hated that guy. But what could I say? No one would believe the testimony of a seven-year-old girl.

After I lost both of my parents, the town officials decided to let me live with Aunt Kallida, my last living relative. I suppose she was kind enough to me. Too bad she died two years afterward, yet again on April Fool's Day, courtesy of the old-headmaster-of-doom. No one knew what to do with me. Immediately, the headmaster opted to adopt me and take me under his wing. Very funny. I ran away before the town officials could say yes. Before the headmaster could cast some mind-controlling spell on me, like he did on my mother. Before my life would become worse than it already was. I was nine, then, leaving the south - where practically all the magicians in Lurensia came from - with only my staff and a small pack that contained my close-to-no possessions.

Traveling alone for almost seven years, I hadn't known where I was headed, until a white-haired alchemist stopped me on my way.

"Where are you going?" she asked. I only shrugged. "Where are you from?" Worry and concern dripped in her voice.

"I'm a magician, from the south," I said simply. The girl's green eyes flashed uncertainly.

"Do you know... where you are?" I shook my head. She let out a small breath. "You're in Elder Village. It's the second northernmost village in Lurensia.

"Oh." We stood on the streets of what I now knew was Elder Village, and stared at each other.

"Well," I broke the silence, "thanks for telling me." I shifted my pack. "Is there any chance you could inform me which way would take me north?" The alchemist pointed in a direction that led me out of the village and into a forest. "Oh, thanks!" I smiled - for the first time in years. "I guess I'll be on my way then." I turned to leave, when the girl stopped me.

"Wait. At least tell me your name first," she requested. I sighed softly. I guess I didn't have anything to lose.

"Aisha," I answered. "What's yours?"

"Echo," she said quietly. I felt her slip something into my pack. After leaving the village and heading deep into the forest, I looked in my pack to see what she put in there. A lollipop. A legit lollipop, with pink and white swirls. A soft chuckled escaped my lips. The first kind person I met in a while. Echo. I would remember that name.

SL: Nothing better than a depressing past for a loli~

Elsword: So the loli gets a lollipop?

SL: Oh hey... I didn't notice that.

Aisha: WHAT HAPPENED? WHAT MADE YOU WRITE THIS TRASH? WHY ARE ALL MY FAMILY MEMBERS DEAD?!

SL: Because... I wanted them to be dead? o.o

Aisha: BUT.

SL: And the headmaster's evil. (Evil headmasters ftw! Let's torch them now owo)

Aisha: WHAT?!

SL: Until next time, see ya! :3